Revised 2011 bird total:
437 species

Monday, May 23, 2011

Willow Flycatcher, eyes on a Scissor and Dismal Swamp no

Lots of news.

One of my highly wanted birds was Willow Flycatcher.  The Augusta Bird Club that I'm part of has an active facebook group and I asked where to find Willow Flycatcher in the county.  A nice birder from the area, Andrew Clem said that they were fairly common along Bells Lane, a location just 20 minutes from where I live.  I went there this afternoon and after not much time I heard it, "Fitz Bew" "Fitz Bew".  After another couple of minutes I spotted it.  Willow Flycatcher on the board -- a life bird for me and year bird 301!

Another piece of news is I got my "eyes on a Scissor".  A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, rare for the east coast (other than Florida in the winter, but I missed it there) was seen by several birders about 2 hours away from here today.  First spotted at 8:30 am it was still there at 6 pm.  If it's around tomorrow, I'm Scissor-tailed bound!  Also tomorrow is a trip for Whip-poor-will's and a good chance for Chuck-will's-widdows in the evening.  Chuck is a lifer I still need!  All so exciting!

Also, Dismal Swamp is a no.  My mom just got back from Canada and she's getting a book off to the printer and it's taking all too much time to yet fit a 3 day trip into the Dismal Swamp and Piney Grove Preserve for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.  So I'm giving up Red-cockaded Woodpecker.  There's still a chance I can get Swainson's Warbler in southwestern Virginia, or more likely West Virginia.  Oh well.  I can't do everything and it's not worth busting to the full endless possibilities while home this week to go on the weekend.

KestrelSwan

2 comments:

  1. Sorry i have this big project getting in the way of some birds little buddy. You are such a trooper for understanding... Let's see what we can get next, shall we?!

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  2. Thanks Mama, but that's ok. I've found a spot in West Virginia that we can find Swainson's Warbler, so it's Red-cockaded Woodpecker that I'm giving up. But unexpected birds are showing up. Take the Garganey as an example, it was totally a bird that I thought was not even a possibility but it turned out I got it. I'd take a Garganey over a Red-cockaded Woodpecker any day. Good trade!

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